This year, I needed some hope. I couldn't handle more dramas examining the darkness of our collective psyche. Instead I wanted to embrace the embattled parts of ourselves which may hurt but go on to greater things. My body felt joy watching the men of Magic Mike XXL embrace their talents and bring happiness to the world by pleasing not themselves but the unappreciated queens they come across. My heart ached for Adonis in Creed but soared to fresh tears when the image of his father Apollo brings Adonis to his feet to secure the legacy he once thought abandoned. My soul dipped into the waters of The Midnight Swim with three sisters who are trying to understand their lineage through their impenetrable and missing mother who may have understood how to embrace death by swimming through the waters of our collective memory.

There were other high point, but these three movies fueled me when other works of art left a lack. Maybe I'll be ready to look back into the dark in 2016. But, for now, I'm appreciative of the light the best of 2015 had to offer.

Special Achievement in Avoiding Easy Categorization (Maybe You'll Like It I Have No Way to Say For Certain)

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